Can Trump just declare anything he wants to be fake news and will his supporters believe it?

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Re: Can Trump just declare anything he wants to be fake news and will his supporters believe it?

Originally Posted by Yes_Minister

But how you do know if he is correct or not when he labels something fake news? What stops Trump from turning this into a get of jail free card?

We know with certainty, if we have the eyes to see, that Trump is making statements that are entirely self serving.

That is what an advocate does.

Our news sources are supposed to avoid advocacy and not favor any side over another in REPORTING the news.

When ANY news source presents advocacy as reporting, that news source is a corrupted propaganda outlet.

THAT is what Trump has so accurately pointed out.

I am not of the mind that a man is either of science or of religion. At his best and his worst, man exists in the misty glimmering where the falling angel meets the rising ape. That he chooses a direction from that point defines him as human.

Re: Can Trump just declare anything he wants to be fake news and will his supporters believe it?

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Bush and Trump are completely different from each other.

Bush & Trump don't belong in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence! Bush made the worst foreign policy mistake
of the last fifty years by invading Iraq. Trump is trying to overcome 50 years of lesser mistakes by all recent predecessors,
& that's as hard as it gets. It's astonishing that he's even making inroads but he is stubbornly moving forward against formidable
opposition. Wish him well!

Re: Can Trump just declare anything he wants to be fake news and will his supporters believe it?

Originally Posted by Yes_Minister

Can Trump just declare anything he wants to be fake news and will his supporters believe it? If so, do Trump supporters create an environment of zero accountability for him?

The first part depends on what Trump claims. What I have noticed with Trump is he knows how to gain attention on serious issues. During the election for example, he played on the rage from the recent terrorist attacks to introduce his Muslim ban. At the very beginning most people were caught off-guard (including me) however a pattern has seemingly emerged where he initially overstates something only to retract back about it and clarify later exactly what he meant. The point was to create an immense talking point where people would later tune in to see if he really meant what he said or not. He later clarified that he was targeting at-risk nations with ties to terrorism, this was in coordination with information only available to those who have top-secret government clearance (aka The President).

If the President of the United states calls something incorrect, it does hold weight as he has access to more information than basically anyone else: especially with access to NSA, CIA, and FBI reports that are all undisclosed to the public.

Trump does have a pretty good thing going for him, but what has he done that he should be held accountable for at the moment? Remove liberal legislation? Use Twitter? Talk with influence? All within his right as the president. Unless you are referencing the sexual assault claims against him. In that case, if* he was found guilty then yes, he should be held accountable. But many people (especially other conservatives) can see the timing of those reports were very tactical in nature. I would propose it was a smear campaign attempt.